Displaced In Time
by Metazealot
Summary: A young adult named John, from a time not far from ours, is catapulted from the brink of the "Mushroom War" into the distant future, in the land of Ooo. There he will meet with unforseen destiny. Many threats loom over the land which will require the cooperation of all in order to avert certain destruction. [I do not own Adventure Time]
1. Chapter 1

**Displaced in Time**

**Perspective: John _(United States Military Academy at West Point, NY, Year 2014 AD)_**

John paced back and forth in his room. He was of a modest build, standing 5'10", with brown hair and eyes. Usually of a positive, if slightly sarcastic demeanor, he had an unusually worried look on his face as he pondered current events. He had the news up on his computer screen in his room at the United States Military Academy. The newscaster stated:

"The UN is failing to reach peaceful decisions over what to do with the recently invented temporal devices. Russia denies having stolen several of the devices from American scientists, and the US Army is poised to intervene, its diplomats demanding the return of the technology. Foreign advocates and domestic political groups are still burning with questions over what the mysterious technology is capable of, and why the government views it so importantly. We now have a live interview with a scientist who left the project recently."

The screen then switched over to the interview.

The scientist began: "These devices were part of our study of Dark Matter. We were seeing if it could be harnessed, and unfortunately, we found it was not at all what we thought it was. In fact, our research was too successful, and now it may have doomed us all."

Interviewer: "Why is the government so interested in these devices?"

"They have the potential to do literally anything. They could create infinite power, but also infinite destruction. It taps a power that civilization is not currently capable of understanding or dealing with, in part due to its uncontrollable nature. Also because everyone would just freak out. They undermine our very understanding of reality." The scientist continued, getting a far-away look in his eyes as he went on.

Before the interview could continue, the news channel abruptly cut off. John looked at his computer screen strangely for a moment. John scanned through, but then suddenly found his internet connection was down.

"I need to get home and find Camryn" John thought, silently cursing the fact that everyone had been confined to base given recent events. Being only cadets in training, they were not in risk of being deployed anywhere if anything should arise (well, perhaps except the next graduating class), but being stuck on campus meant John could not go home to ensure the safety of his family or his girlfriend.

Suddenly loud thumps could be heard in the distance. John looked out the window. The drums were not playing. A few jets screeched overhead, which was very unusual. The Air Force never had planes over this area. When the power itself cut off, he realized things were much worse than he thought. The thumps in the distance became closer, and were paired with violent bursts of light. Explosions. John's stomach turned flopped as he watched what must be bombs going off in the distance, getting closer. "Is this the end?" John thought. He knew he should try to do whatever he could, and went out into the hallway, following others downstairs into the basement. The flashes were getting closer. The other cadets wore a mixture of panicked and steeled faces. Everyone knew what was going on, but there wasn't much that could be done now. Before heading into the basement, John walked out of the barracks sally-port and into the open courtyard to get a better view. There were mushroom clouds on the horizon, but not all of the explosions appeared nuclear. There were strange, purplish emanations that seemed to make the sky above the impact zones shimmer. He didn't have long to contemplate it when a projectile ripped into the barracks across the courtyard, leveling half of the building before detonating in a strange vortex of energy. John dove to the ground as energy beams arced away from the impact zone, tearing up the ground around him. He looked up just in time to see one trail of purple energy lash straight for him. He closed his eyes for the feeling that never came.

John opened his eyes, but saw nothing. "Am I dead?" he wondered. Slowly a grayscale version of reality, apparently frozen, came into focus. As the contrast started to increase, time started to move forward, but only for the world around him. John looked down and around, but found he did not seem to exist. "Yup. I'm dead." He concluded. Suddenly, the world started to accelerate, and John also started rising in altitude. He looked down and saw explosion after explosion go off, tearing the terrain apart at light speed. In the distance there was an enormous explosion that appeared to send massive chunks of the earth itself into orbit. John mentally gasped as, with time speeding by faster and faster, the land itself started moving and rearranging itself. What John was able to see began to grey out again right as the area became gripped by violent storms. Eventually he could barely see anything at all, and existence became a blur. His consciousness fading, John slipped away into the darkness and accepted nothingness.

Once again John came to, but this time to a very different result. On his back, he was in a grassy field staring up at a blue sky. "Could it really have all been a dream?" He thought. Then logic kicked in. "Wait. Where on base is a fie-" He started to think before leaning up and looking around. This wasn't a grassy field on base. This was an enormous plain he had never been to. John was even more startled when he raised his hand and saw, not a hand, but a floating crystal with five finger-shaped floating pieces of metal where his hand would be. The crystal seemed to work as the center of his hand, and the floating metal fingers operated just as normal fingers might, but none of it was connected. They floated there in midair, much to John's disbelief. His eyes followed his hand down his arm to the rest of his body to discover his entire body was composed of floating pieces of grayish metal which all hovered in somehow fixated positions around his interior, which were floating crystals that emitted a blue glow. At least it was his favorite color.

John walked over to a puddle nearby to try and examine himself better in his reflection. His head was made of what appeared to be five metal plates floating around a central crystal, one on the top, left, and right, a small one below his "face" opening where his chin might have been, and he felt another small plate in a similar position on the back of his head. He had two "eyes" it appeared... made of... light? Energy? He could not say for sure. He tried reaching his hand up to feel them, but lo and behold, his "hand" went right through his eyes (and face), blocking his vision. Startled, he reeled back in confusion. "What the hell is going on?" he thought.

After awhile he gave up lamenting over his condition and decided to experiment with his new form. He tried prying individual plates away from himself, but they only retracted back into their original position as soon as he stopped trying. He tried relaxing for a moment, and found they were less fixated. In a moment of experimentation, he tried clearing his mind and retracting all feeling from his body. He instantly fell apart into a pile of crystals and plates, only to reassemble a moment later from his mental reaction of shock. "Interesting. I could condense myself and hide easily using this". He wandered around, and came to a dirt lot with several rocks and a tree or two. It looked like the ground had been treaded upon before. He leaned against a rock and thought. He wondered where he might be and moreso, how he had gotten there at all. As he thought he fiddled around with a stone and set it atop a boulder. In a moment of frustration he waved his arm angrily while wondering how he would ever get back. The stone flew off, despite him not having touched it. John walked over and picked up the stone in interest. How had it moved? To continue experimenting, he placed it in his "palm" atop the crystal and focused. He easily levitated it by imagining it moving upwards. "I have telekinesis?" John thought in amazement. "What else can I do?" he wondered. He tried imagining a shape in the palm of his hand, and the same shape formed itself out of blue energy. He played around with it, and then, considering practical applications, stretched it out and formed the energy into a sword. He grasped it firmly in his hand, and slashed at the boulder; it cut straight through without a problem.

Before John could elaborate more on what he could do, he heard an audible "thud". He looked over to see a small, greenish humanoid. It had dropped some sort of basket, and was staring straight at him in fear. John tried to speak, but then realized he had no idea how to speak, and reached his hand out in a fumble of communication. The humanoid, which he could only describe as a "goblin", dashed away in fear, to what he could only presume was where it came from. "Great" he thought to himself, grumbling, and walked around the dirt lot briefly, until he came to realization. The "boulder" he had just slashed through was flat on the opposite side, and had an inscription on it. Looking around, he realized all of the boulders were similarly inscribed, and with a twinge of guilt he deduced that he had just defiled a graveyard. He knew he should make amends, and started walking in the direction the "goblin" had dashed off.

As he neared what appeared to be a large, walled community, he saw the gate open, and out came a small contingent of lightly armored, albeit short, spearmen. He stared in confusion until he saw the small goblin he had seen at the graveyard jump up and down pointing at him, and the small formation of twenty or so immediately began moving in his direction. John wondered how he was going to explain himself.

"There's the thing! It was destroying our crypt!" the goblin was shouting. John considered trying to write in the ground, since they appeared to speak English, but he was not going to get the chance, as the entire contingent of goblins pulled out crossbows and prepared to fire at him. Thinking fast, John created a thin barrier of energy in front of him. The crossbow bolts hit hard, badly fracturing his makeshift shield and even letting a few bolts through. One whizzed right through him harmlessly, luckily avoiding crystal and metal alike. The goblins changed tactics, switching to spears and charging at him, breaking formation. John tried to raise his hand in a "stop" gesture, but they kept coming. He sighed inwardly and materialized a sword in his right hand just in time to deflect an incoming attack.

**Perspective: Finn and Jake _(The Grasslands, Land of Ooo, Year 3014 AD)_**

It had been a couple days since anything exciting had happened, and Finn was getting tired of lounging around the treehouse playing BMO. He got up off of the couch and prepared to go out on a walk.

"Do you want to play hide and seek? BMO can hide better than even Neptr, if he tried." Said BMO

"BMO, you always jump out and BMO chop us when we get near you. Hide and seek only works if you stay hidden."

"But it's more fun if you play as a ninja!" BMO argued. Jake walked over, noticing Finn had grabbed his pack and sword.

"Are we going on an adventure?" Jake asked. "You know it!" said Finn as they walked out of the treehouse.

"But where are we going?" said Jake

"I'm not –" Finn began until he heard a squeaky yell from someone approaching the treehouse. Finn and Jake looked over to see a small goblin run up to them.

"Look, if you want me to be your king again I already said no-" Finn began.

"It's not that Finn! There's a strange monster that attacked our graveyard near the Goblin Kingdom! Our guards are doing their best but they just can't seem to kill it. They sent me to come get your help." The goblin said.

"We're on our way!" Finn exclaimed, hopping on Jake's back as he supersized and headed towards the Goblin Kingdom.

Several minutes later, Finn and Jake arrived just outside the goblin kingdom, where the small contingent was still trying to kill the "monster". They appeared, however, to only have tired it out. The golem-like creature had a shield of energy in one hand and what looked like a simple club made of energy in the other hand. Several goblins had been knocked unconscious, but the "monster" had not actually injured any of them. Finn dismounted and pulled out his demon blood sword while Jake turned his hands into giant mallets.

"Surrender or Die!" Finn shouted, charging towards the golem. Jake followed close suit.

However, when the crystalline-metallic being noticed Finn, it did not retaliate, but rather it actually seemed to lower its guard. It stared at them with a look that could be viewed as a mix of recognition and absolute disbelief, although it was hard to tell since he lacked real facial features. It was jarred back to reality when a spear smacked the side of its face.

Finn pointed his sword at it in a threatening stance. "RRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH HHHH!" He yelled. "Yeah what he said!" Jake added.

The golem looked around itself momentarily, and then suddenly dematerialized its shield and weapons, raising its hands in an obvious sign of submission that the goblins had ignored earlier. Finn lowered his sword. "Uh, he doesn't appear to be attacking" Finn said.

"But he was destroying our graveyard! He must die!" chimed one of the goblins.

The golem appeared to be carving something into the ground with one of his "fingers". Finn and Jake walked over to read what he was scrawling: "No fight. Accident. Can't Talk. Help"

"What I think we have ourselves here is a case of the misunderstanding" Jake deduced.

"We should take it to PB. She might know what the math it is." Finn said. Finn motioned for the thing to follow, and it complied, having apparently understood what they were saying. They set off for the Candy Kingdom.

The goblins, slightly irritated at the anticlimactic result, watched as the group walked off into the horizon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Finn and Jake/PB (The Grasslands, John's Arrival +6hrs)**

Finn and Jake escorted the 'golem' across the grasslands until eventually they reached the Candy Kingdom. The people looked at Finn and Jake's new acquaintance briefly before turning away; they had seen far stranger. The golem itself was looking around in wonder. As they walked up to the candy castle, Peppermint Butler was by the door.

Finn approached Peppermint Butler. "Hey, could we see the princess? She might be able to help us out with this thing" he said, indicating the golem. Peppermint Butler nodded and led them down to the laboratory, where Princess Bubblegum was working on one of her many experiments.

Princess Bubblegum looked up when the group approached. It had been a brief while since she had seen Finn, with him being around Flame Princess so much lately. She didn't mind, so long as the kingdom was still safe, but she had been forced to use banana-guards in one or two situations where the enigmatic human may have proved useful.

"Hello Finn, hello Jake, how may I be of assistance?" she asked.

"We found the goblins of the goblin kingdom fighting this thing, but I don't think it's evil. We were hoping you could figure him out with your science stuff" Finn replied, indicating the golem again.

PB walked up to the golem, examining it. It stared back with a bemused look in its fiery eyes. "Hello" Princess Bubblegum said. It responded by bringing its hand up and waving.

"Hmmmm" Princess Bubblegum thought. It appeared it was unable to communicate. Nothing that could not be solved scientifically. "Can you speak?" PB asked it. It shook its head side to side. It obviously had some intelligence to understand what she was saying and how to respond, so Finn's hypothesis that it was not a monster could be true.

"I will put it in my spectral analyzer to get some readings on its composition." She said, and grabbed the "golem's" hand, leading it over to a machine that it obediently stepped into, despite looking around at it a little cautiously. The machine grabbed at one of the golem's metal plates and pried at it, doing nothing. It emitted a few different effects, such as light and sound at it. When it emitted a "thought" wave, the plate suddenly distorted and changed shape momentarily before flexing back into alignment. Finn and Jake walked over by PB at her holographic screen as readings began to display. Strange images that neither of the two heroes could understand began popping up, but Bubblegum was looking at them in wonder. "This being is composed mostly of spectral energy. Most of it is not actually physical, which is why all we see are the floating metalloids and crystalline formations. Its' essence is bound mostly to the crystals in it. It must control itself by pure psionic emanations." PB remarked.

"Uhh?" Finn said.

"What's important is that it operates on the mental level. How did it fight the goblins?" PB asked.

"It had a sword and shield the same color as its crystal-things, but they vanished when he gave up." Jake answered.

"Hmmm" PB thought. She walked over to the golem. "If you can make energy with your thoughts, have you tried making sound with your thoughts?"

The golem gazed at her with a look of bewilderment, and then proceeded to slap its own head. It then focused for a moment.

"No." it said. "I had not."

"For the record, my name is John." He continued. "And I know who all of you are."

**John (The Candy Kingdom, John's Arrival +7hrs)**

PB, Finn, and Jake all looked at John in confusion.

"Who are you" Princess Bubblegum asked, the first to speak up."

"I was once a human, but I see now from recognizing my environment that I have been somehow…"

John paused, collecting his thoughts. "Transported far into the future, by approximately one thousand years if my theory is correct."

"What's that?" Finn asked.

"Back home, before the… "Mushroom War" occurred, there were shows that occurred regularly on television. Similar to movies you watch using BMO. One such show was called Adventure Time-"

"Hey! That's one of our catch phrases!" Jake piped in.

"… of which due to my girlfriend's insistence, I ended up watching every episode of. The world here is... from what I can tell... the very same world depicted in that cartoon. I guess Pendleton Ward was some sort of prophet."

Princess Bubblegum was not entirely convinced. "You're saying there was prior knowledge of the future a thousand years in the past? That would have enormous paradoxical consequences! The likelihood of the future actually occurring would be reduced nearly to an infinitesimal-"

"Not if everyone who saw it died." John countered.

Bubblegum was a bit put down by this. Jake stepped up "wait, if you really know everything that's happened, then what did I try to wish for from ol' Prismo when me 'n Finn were trying to stop the Lich?"

"A sandwich" John deadpanned.

"Yeah he's for real. Nobody but Prismo and Cosmic owl would know that otherwise." Jake said.

Finn shook his head at Jake's comment, but Bubblegum suddenly became curious.

"You must know so much about the past that was lost from the war!" she exclaimed. John nodded silently, but walked over to a side of a room. "Just be careful with what you ask. I'm... still recovering from some of it. To you it was a thousand years ago, but ... to me, it was only yesterday. And it was not a happy event."

Finn and Jake looked at John and Bubblegum in confusion. "Wait, what happened exactly? Is someone in danger?" Finn asked, eager as always to help. John shook his head from side to side. "Not anymore."

"The Great Mushroom War, as it was recounted in history, was a massive world war that ultimately eradicated human civilization from this world, planet earth, and either ultimately caused or was a result of the creation of the Lich. I never got to find out; it was all very sudden. The bomb ... or whatever it was that transported me in time was one of the first launched, so I didn't see whatever violent aftermath must have happened afterwards. Thankfully." He sat down, growing somewhat depressed the more he thought about it. His family. His friends. Her...

Bubblegum bit her lip, wondering how to assist. Finn and Jake were also a bit put down by these revelations. Then Finn got an idea. "Hey, you know time it is when stuff gets you down?" Finn said.

There was a sort of bemused groan from John. "Given my prior knowledge of you, I'm assuming you're going to declare it's-"

"ADVENTURE TIME"

**Finn and Jake (Outer Candy Kingdom, Later that evening)**

Finn and Jake walked through the woods, John close in suit.

"I never understood how you ever found your adventures" John commented

"You don't find the adventures, you just let the adventures find you!" said Finn.

Suddenly Marceline the Vampire Queen darted down out of the sky, landing right in front of Jake and looking at him in the most terrifying wolf form she could manage. Jake looked at her absent mindedly, and then fell backwards, out cold.

"Aw Marceline, you know Jake doesn't like it when you scare the glob out of him like that" said Finn.

"He's just a big wuss." said Marceline. She noticed John standing behind Finn with a bemused expression. "Who's your magic-robo-pal?"

"This is John, he was just transported in time from a thousand years ago."

That gave Marceline a start. She floated over near John, staring intently at him now. "A thousand years?"

"At the beginning of the war. I was in the military, but I probably can't help you that much." John said.

"Who said I wanted your help?" Marceline hissed.

"Because I know you saw the war more than I did, despite that you were only a child. You may not know much about what happened prior, unless Sim-"

"Who are you?!" she screamed. "How do you know about that?!"

"Whoa Marceline! Calm down! He didn't mean to upset your P-biz!" Finn said, stepping in between the two and trying to relieve the tension. Jake sat up and blinked his eyes a few times

"It was on the television. You merely never saw it. This entire future was predicted beforehand. Look, I'm sorry if I offended you, I had no intention of doing so. I came about knowledge of this world before it existed. I never would have dreamed it true."

"Hmph." Marceline said, and started to float off. "Oh by the way Finn, wildberry kingdom is getting attacked by some demons my dad accidentally let out of the Nightosphere" she added before flying away."

"There's no time to lose!" Finn said, hopping on Jake, who supersized and started walked towards wildberry kingdom. John looked around dumbly for a moment before running after them, trying to catch up.

**John (Wildberry Kingdom, same evening)**

John was having a hard time keeping up with Jake's fast pace, but his body didn't really require any physical endurance, just mental focus. Eventually the kingdom came into focus, and it was obviously under attack. There were at least thirty winged creatures descending upon the town, attacking the spearmen guards.

Jake launched Finn into the air, who pointed his sword in front of him and carved right through one of the demons like a missile, causing it to explode in a shower of ash. Jake made harpoons out of his free arm while he caught Finn with his other. John marveled at the capabilities of his stretching ability.

He started to wonder how he could assist in the fight, since the enemies were mostly airborne. One dived at him. He put up a shield that it hit dead on, probably knocking it unconscious. He made an energy blade and quickly finished it, watching remorselessly as the evil being disintegrated. He made an attempt at throwing daggers at the airborne targets, but the nefarious creatures dodged and weaved around them. Finn and Jake were having much more luck… until more of them came and started breathing fireballs. John ran up and blocked Finn from a fireball before it could impact. Finn nodded thanks before Jake catapulted him into the sky again. Too late to adjust course, Finn was right in line for an incoming fireball. John looked in alarm and focused on it, outstretching his hand. He was surprised when the ball of flame moved instantly in a different direction as he commanded it. John smiled to himself.

**Princess Bubblegum (Candy Kingdom, that night)**

The trio returned to the castle in high spirits. Bonnibel walked down from her tower, eying the three, covered in various scorch-marks as they were. Seeing Finn burned reminded her of Flame Princess, but Bubblegum reminded herself that she had no issues with that. Really, she didn't… mostly. As long as nothing dangerous happened.

She pushed these thoughts aside and walked up to the group, inquiring how their 'adventure' had gone. Finn and Jake immediately launched into a detailed explanation.

"I was cutting them in half when they started launching fireballs at us, but then John started like mind-controlling the fireballs and shooting them back at the demons!" Finn said exuberantly. "It was really math" Jake added with a smile. John also appeared to be sort of smiling, if you could tell from the glint of his energy eyes and what may have been a faint line of energy where his mouth might have been.

"Do you need a place to stay, displaced one? There is a spare room on the bottom floor of the keep here, if you need a temporary residence until we can find you a more permanent residence" she addressed John.

"Your majesty, I am gracious and humbly accept your offer." John said, bowing. Bubblegum blushed slightly, waving off his politeness as unnecessary, and then motioned to some servants who began preparing the guest room. She looked the strange figure up and down, still curious about his past. "Are you ready to talk more?" she asked.

"I suppose" John replied, "But let me try something first".

They all stared in confusion as John stepped back and started focusing intently. He started shrinking as his metal plates started to come closer together around the crystals, closing up empty space. Then even stranger things began happening. The metal plates that made up his body began distorting and bending, thinning and liquefying in areas. They started to expand and coalesce, closing all of the open areas and creating a solid body, which then took human shape. His body was a grey protoform, with a still mostly featureless face and two holes with his energy eyes floating in them.

"This takes a lot of strain, but I learned from your experiment on me earlier that my plates can change shape."

He started exerting himself more, and slowly turned into a grayed out version of his previous 18-year old self. Clothing materialized, made out of the same substance, and slowly color began to seep into him. Small micro-tubes of matter started forming on his head and turned into short brown hair. When he opened his eyes again, they were humanoid eyes, brown in color. He was dressed in blue Jeans, a T shirt, and Sneakers, and stood at about Bubblegum's height.

The group looked at him in awe. "So that's what you used to look like?" Bubblegum remarked. Finn walked up and started rudely examining him.

"He even feels like a human! This feels like actual skin and cloth."

"I suppose your body can take the physical properties of any substance, eh John?" said PB.

John grunted. He brought up his right hand and unfolded it. It dispersed back into the metal-crystal form, and he played with a small ball of energy in the palm of his hand. "I suppose. It's hard to know really what I am, but at least I can appear normal now" he said.

The group talked for a bit before deciding to retire for the night. Finn and Jake went back to the treehouse, Finn rambling about telling FP everything that happened the next day. John went to his new quarters and Bubblegum ascended the stairs to the upper levels of the Candy keep. She thought to herself in her room that night about the new visitor. She was not sure what to make of him, but his moral inclination seemed to be good if he followed Finn and Jake into battle. And it might pay off to have a powerful psyker available in town who could protect the candy citizens when Finn was out frolicking with Flame Princess. She decided it would be beneficial if she could convince this new "John" to stay in the kingdom. He seemed intelligent too, and of her age. He might just be valuable as someone she could talk to.

With that she drifted off to sleep, resting herself for the next day to come.


	3. Chapter 3

**John (Candy Kingdom, Day after John's arrival)**

John woke up with a start and gasped for breath, despite not needing to breathe. He had been having nightmares all night, mostly about the war. Mostly about those he left behind. He sat up in his bed and calmed himself down. Thinking about what happened before wasn't going to help him in the least bit, and thus he steeled himself for the day ahead. He got up, rematerializing full clothes onto himself in a half-second. These abilities of his new body were strange, but certainly useful. He looked around for a clock, but did not see one. The candy kingdom's technology was strange. He didn't even know if it used proper electricity.

John yawned loudly before exiting his room to the main hall. He wondered if he needed food, since he didn't quite feel hungry. As he walked around he realized some commotion was going on. He walked over to see the princess and some of her guards, along with peppermint butler standing near a small crowd. And at the door was a rather undesired sight: Ricardio.

**Princess Bubblegum (Candy Kingdom)**

"Oh, but you Will marry me, my dear" Ricardio said.

"I've had enough of your nonsense! " Princess Bubblegum replied. "Guards! Seize him!"

"Na ah ah, Princess. If you do not marry me and allow me to rule this kingdom, there will be very harsh consequences."

Bonnibel reeled in disgust from Ricardio. She had seen enough of him when she defeated his bodied form that he had compiled from sinew. Nonetheless Ricardio seemed to have an insane glint in his eyes that bespoke seriousness. "Or what?" she challenged.

Ricardio pulled a device out from behind his back. It was a metallic object that looked like it was likely part of a larger machine once. It was obviously some sort of advanced scientific apparatus, Bubblegum could tell. It also had many warning labels on it in English, including an imprint, which although she did not know it, was the US Army's late-war symbol indicative of trans-dimensional energy. Like a radioactivity warning, but with potentially worse ramifications.

"What I have here" he said, "Is a trans-dimensional lock-on activator. It will open a doorway to the nearest and last visited trans-dimensional plane" he said in an arrogant know-it-all tone. Bubblegum did have to admit the strange heart-shaped man was at least smart, albeit deranged.

His grin grew wider. "The last cut made near here through dimensions was to a certain time box where a particularly angry Lich is stuck, if I am not mistaken. He will make short work of your kingdom should you deny my request."

"You idiot" Bubblegum gasped. "The Lich will destroy everything if you release him! You included! This is madness!"

"You have my ultimatum, my dear" Ricardio replied, the crazed glint in his eyes growing a bit stronger as he felt his victory was certain. Nobody noticed that John had moved through the crowd to the front. He stepped forward. Ricardio was startled at first to see a human figure; he thought Finn was the last human. This thought was discarded when John's eyes started glowing bluish and a small amount of static sparks started emanating off of him. He proceeded to address Ricardio.

"Drop the weapon." He commanded. Ricardio looked at him and laughed. "Why should I listen to you?" He asked, moving his hands on the device a bit cautiously.

"The threat you make has ramifications beyond your petty dream. Look into yourself and ask if you really want to be the cause of such hellspawn and destruction upon this world. You do not know the pain that comes from loss. You have not borne witness to destruction or had those you care about removed from you. How would you feel if you were one of these candy citizens, poor victims of your plot? They have lives. Families. They deserve better than to be snuffed out in an instant due to your selfish desires!" John said in righteous fury. His eyes became small balls of blue flame, and from his right fist a blade of blue energy formed.

"You will drop that weapon, or so help me, I will make sure you pay for your intentions." John continued, moving forward into a stance ready to strike Ricardio.

Ricardio, fear in his eyes, let the device slip from his hands when John moved forward. He looked down and back up, and saw John staring him down to the depths of his soul. Ricardio decided against testing him and ran out of the kingdom, leaving the device sitting there.

John dematerialized his energy blade and his eyes returned to normal. He levitated the "device" with his telekinesis, a small platform of energy carrying it over to Princess bubblegum. "Here's something for your research. Make sure nobody can use it. Any pre-war tech is potentially dangerous." He concluded before walking back to his room.

Bubblegum, and the rest of the crowd, watched him walk away with slack jaws and widened eyes.

**Finn (The Grasslands)**

Finn, oblivious to the current situation in the Candy Kingdom, was spending the day with Flame Princess.

"Hey FP, what do you want to do today?

"We should go on another adventure!" Flame Princess replied.

"That sounds like fun… but let's not torch a town like last time."

"I'm sorry Finn. I didn't actually mean to burn down that farmers market. I just wanted to look at the foods. They seem interesting. We don't have much variety in the Fire Kingdom."

The week prior FP and Finn had gone grocery shopping together. Flame Princess had forgotten about her gloves.

"It's okay. We'll do something a bit more exciting this time anyways" Finn replied.

The two began walking towards the location of Choose Goose. Finn knew that he would likely have some strange stories or artifacts they could use requiring a quest or some other strange activity. The two of them had been going all over the land of Ooo as of late, Finn showing off many of his adventuring accomplishments while simultaneously allowing Flame Princess to see the world the way she had always been deprived of. It made her very happy inside. Finn was just happy to see the smile on her face.

Before the two reached choose goose, they heard a strange babbling noise nearby.

"Hold up. Let's figure out what the math that noise is" Finn said, preparing to scout out the source. Suddenly, the Royal Tart Toter burst into the clearing.

"I see your minds twisting through an eternal plane of wonderful existence, magnifying the stars with brightness a million times the womb of plantling birthright!" the Royal Tart Toter exclaimed.

Flame Princess backed away, readying a fireball, but Finn stopped her.

"It's okay FP, this guy is just totally nuts. He won't hurt anyone though."

The Tart Toter began moving off, in a seemingly focused direction straight towards the Candy Kingdom. Finn groaned; the Toter was probably trying to perform his lost duty once more. "We should probably follow him to make sure he doesn't cause any trouble" Finn said. "Okay Finn. Sounds cool to me."

Finn was happy with FP. He knew inside that she was not naturally evil, but that she just needed some tuning of her moral compass. Similar to Marceline in a way, but not because of a kabillion year adventure. She had come a long way since he first met her, and he felt he had found "the one". If only he could perfect the fireproof suit BMO and Neptr had been working on.

Before long they reached the Candy Kingdom. Finn and FP watched from a distance. "We'll let things work themselves out, and intervene if we need to." Finn said. It would be a good time to have their sandwich and charcoal picnic here anyways while they waited. It was a nice day outside.

**John (Candy Kingdom)**

John heard a voice penetrate his mind

"So, you have arrived at last, void child." It said.

John shot up out of bed with a start. He had been trying to sleep away his miseries, but this new development warranted attention. Nothing had been able to talk to him in this direct manner before.

"Hello?" he projected out into mental space. He got no reply from the mysterious voice, but instead heard Princess Bubblegum knock on his door. "John, could you help us with something?" she asked.

He got up, fully materialized himself, and opened the door. In the middle of the main hall, about ten bananaguards were wrestling back the Royal Tart Toter, who seemingly had a strong intention of talking to the princess. Several more bananaguards were waiting in a formation with spears in case things got too far out of hand. "You handled Ricardio so well, I was just wondering if you could possibly take care of the Royal Tart Toter." PB said.

"Wait... what do you mean by 'take care of'?" he said

"Uhmmm…, just get him out of here please." PB said, glancing away.

John shrugged and made his way towards the Tart Toter. He looked at him. The Toter was ragged in appearance, and may have been foaming slightly at the mouth. Entirely insane, John deduced. The Toter was sprouting his typical enigmatic nonsense. Until John heard the voice again.

"May I make your acquaintance?" the voice said.

John stopped in his tracks and looked around the room wildly, confusing PB and the bananaguards. He turned and looked towards the Tart Toter, who had stopped thrashing and was looking in his direction, although he was still talking about random things such as a toaster under the sea that would amplify the lettuce of everyone.

"Yes, it is I. Do not be fooled by my external appearance, void child" the voice, apparently from the mind of the Royal Tart Toter, replied.

"Release him." John commanded the bananaguards. The guards looked at eachother a bit confusedly, but complied and stopped restraining the Toter, who merely stood in place rambling while he and John had a conversation that no-one else could hear.

"Who are you?" John spoke with his mind, directing the thought only at the Tart Toter"

"I am a paradigm of time and space, Entwined with this reality and others. Some time ago, when I allegedly became insane, my mind was brought to another plane of existence. Unfortunately that created a schism with my physical form. As a result, I only have a limited influence on its actions. Somewhat similar to the Ice King's condition." The Toter explained. The crowd watched the two stare at each other while the Tart Toter appeared to be rambling nonsense.

"Why have you come here? And why do you call me 'Void Child'?" John asked.

"I have been sent with a purpose; to inform you of the motive in your own existence. You are THE void child because you are the child of the void, destined to travel betwixt the fourth dimension to accomplish a destiny that is currently being warred over across the psionic plane. As such you are one of few inherently able to access this plane of thought without having such a condition as I."

"But… who had sent you? John asked, becoming a bit uneasy with this fellow.

"All will be revealed in time, child. For now I come to guide your mission on behalf of the good. Beware any that might divert you towards the shadow calling."

"What would you have me do, crazed one?"

"Do not doubt me, child. My form is inept but I was a profound scholar before my transformation. I guarantee you this was no accident of fate."

"Very well."

"Build yourself a position in these lands. You have already begun to do so, as you can see the sugarlings have already begun to depend on you for defensive reasons. Accelerate that trend." The Toter said, glancing at PB and back to John while still sprouting random nonsense in the real world

"But why? What reason should I have for ingraining myself into the Candy Kingdom? I am not one of its people." John queried

PB was beginning to wonder what exactly was going on. The two had been staring at each other for awhile now, and John wasn't even saying anything!

"Do not question. These people will serve as valuable allies in the future, and you will need them to fight alongside you. I am running out of focus. It takes strength to manifest myself to deliver upon you a message. Have me detained here so that I can continue our conversation when I have composed my fragmentary thoughts." The voice concluded before closing the psionic link between their minds.

John looked around at PB and back to the Tart Toter, who had begun thrashing again.

"Uh, I probed his mind. He's quite insane. We should put him in a confinement ward for possible future treatment." John told PB

PB looked a bit unsure. "Are you sure anything can be done? We've tried working on him before. Nothing good has ever come of it."

"Perhaps we can. I think it is worth trying. Trust me." John said. PB nodded and ordered the bananaguards to carry the Toter away.

"One last thing" the voice said in John's mind.

"You have much strength lying dormant and untapped. Your energy is that of will. You can manifest your willpower in the physical domain, but you can also apply your dominion of the mental plane onto others and even items, to modify them or imbue them with the essence of a thought. Whatever you command of it will manifest so long as there is a will to support it, be it your own or otherwise. Focus these thought using fragments of your essence. Also, trouble is rising in the lemonlands. Take the fight to them and use it to your advantage." With that, the voice concluded and became silent once more.

John thought over this and what had happened. He watched PB giving orders to the bananaguards.

"So, I need to establish myself in this kingdom?" he thought to himself. He also thought about his powers that the Toter had mentioned. Perhaps there were other uses aside from fighting that they could be applicable for."

John and PB both turned their heads towards the door when Finn and FP burst through.

"Hey guys, we have a real sour problem!" Finn declared.


	4. Chapter 4

**Finn (Land of Ooo, Day 3)**

Finn cut down another Lemonfuzz with his demonblood sword, slicing right through its body without much real resistance. Bubblegum said that she could fix them up after all of this was over, but looking at the number of bodies they were going through, Finn was starting to feel guilty about cutting them down, even if they were mindless minions of evil.

The night prior, Finn and FP had been sitting outside having their picnic when they heard the bushes rustle behind them. Finn got up to inspect as FP looked on inquisitively. Out from the bushes burst a lemon person, one of Lemongrab's creations from back when they had the candy-life-creation formula, until PB blanked their brainslates. Finn began to bend down towards the little guy to talk to him until he noticed something was very wrong with it. It was covered with a strange …"fuzz" (thus Finn's term Lemonfuzz, although John calls them Fuzzlings) and its eyes were blood red. Finn backed away and was preparing to deal with the unfortunate lemon guy until about fifteen more burst out from the nearby bushes, with more apparently behind them. Finn and FP booked it for the Candy Kingdom, where they had met up with John and FP to discuss the apparent defense the kingdom was going to need. FP wanted to just burn them all, and John even thought it would be effective, but ultimately he and Finn agreed that it wasn't right and that they should try to restore them if at all possible. Bananaguards had been set up at all entrances with spears for defensive measures, and John convinced PB that they should take a small force and find the source of the problem. Thus John, Finn, FP, and a small contingent of about 12 bananaguards left to assail Lemongrab's lands in search for an end to the siege. Hopefully fast, since the Lemonfuzz seemed to be multiplying themselves and getting even more malicious at an alarming rate.

FP was on point, warding off the apparently pyro-phobic lemonfuzz with a stream of fire, but being careful to not actually incinerate them. John marched forward in his crystalline form, wielding dual energy blades. Finn was guarding the flanks by dashing around with his sword. The bananaguards really weren't sure why they were needed in the first place.

"So, how much farther to Lemongrab's keep? John asked Finn.

"Not much longer." Finn replied, kicking another lemonfuzz into the dust, rendering it unconscious.

He wished Jake was here to help. Finn seldom went into a fight without his trusted brother. John had valued time over assets though, so they had just went straight here rather than making a detour. At least FP was here, although Finn was reluctant to put her in harm's way. Well, actually she typically destroyed anything that attacked her, so it was probably pointless to worry. Finn's thoughts were interrupted when John called "get down."

**John (Lemongrab Keep, Day 3)**

They had arrived just outside the keep. Surely enough, John could see from his position behind some rocks, the fuzzlings were coming in a steady stream directly out of the keep. Even the keep itself looked deformed, covered with the same fuzz, and with lines of red seeping through it. It spoke of some evil magic. Well it could possibly be a biological agent but John figured he'd sort that out later. The princess had reported the infested lemon forces attacking the Candy Kingdom strategically, so that indicated they had some sort of command structure. If he could find the source of that and sever it, the attacks might stop.

Something else caught his eye. He scanned a couple hundred yards in the other direction and saw a crudely constructed hut. With a light on inside. Not even outside vision range of the malignant keep. What kind of idiots would camp there?

"Finn. We should check out what that random structure over there is. I don't know what fools would stay with this going on, but we should try to secure their safety." John said.

Finn nodded in agreement. It was righteous stuff to save potential innocents.

John and Finn crept up cautiously to the structure, bananaguards following suit with their spears. FP guarded their rear as they approached.

"FP, can you use your heat sense to determine how many occupants are inside?" John whispered.

"Sure" FP replied, and did a little twirl, sending out a wave that passed through the environment. "There are a couple people in that room, one bigger than the rest, and there are about twenty or so people in a basement below.

Finn held up three fingers and John nodded back. Finn dropped one finger, and then another, and then it was time. John kicked the door down and both he and Finn rushed in, blades armed.

Little lemon people cried out in terror, and a taller figure approached from the back of the room. It was Lemongrab the white.

"Whyyyyy have you burst into our hoooome? Nnnnnnnnnn!" He screeched.

"We did not know you were in here. More importantly, why are you in here when your kingdom has apparently been overthrown?" said John

"Nnnn…" He started to talk again. "Not my fault. Lemongrab was only trying to keep lemon candy life alive!"

"Dude, you coulda gone to a safer spot" Finn commented.

"I couldn't just leave my kingdom! My people!" Lemongrab lamented.

"Wait a second, aren't there supposed to be two of you?" Flame Princess asked.

"Yes. Yes there are. We were both here, going about our Lemongrab ways when a little heart man showed up."

"Ricardio…" John grumbled.

"He ran up to us in the courtyard and drew some sort of.. dust… on my fellow Lemongrab." Lemongrab turned his head down. "He began to change… no longer .. my lemon-kin."

Finn walked up and patted Lemongrab on the shoulder, which he surprisingly didn't swat away given Lemongrab's usual temperance.

"He turned all weird looking, and started spreading more of the dust onto our candy life creations! They started following him. I gathered the few I could save and escaped to here." Lemongrab concluded.

John pondered this for a minute. "Hmn, if he didn't pursue you then Ricardio must have imbued him with a very single minded objective. It seems as if your lemon… brother.. or whatever may be the controlling mind behind the fuzzlings. If we take him out, the attacks should stop."

"What? You cannot kill my fellow Lemongrab! That's- that's-.. unnaAACCCEEEPPTTTAABBBBLLLEE EEEEE!" Lemongrab screeched.

Finn chipped in. "Hate to say it, but he's right. We shouldn't just kill Lemongrab. There's gotta be another way."

John was still holding his "head" from Lemongrab's cry. It always irritated his ears back when he watched the TV show, and it was only worse in real life. "We'll see what we can do, but no guarantees. We must defend the people who can be saved first and foremost."

With that, the group began mobilizing towards the keep.

**Flame Princess (Lemongrab Keep, Day 3)**

The sky was darkening with the sunset as the small group approached the keep. Flame Princess was trying to keep calm so as not to shine as brightly. John was trying to have them stay relatively hidden from the braindead minions so that they would not have to fight as much. She looked over at Finn, who had taken point and was leading them towards the castle. She cared for him so much, and he had done so much for her. She hated that she couldn't do more to express her feelings for her, but it was true that she got too crazy on the inside when she got emotional. And at any rate, it made her happy just to be with him. This was one of their more interesting adventures yet anyways!

Without warning an explosion erupted just a few scant yards away, sending a couple bananaguards flying. Flame princess held her hands to her ears in pain.

Finn was quickly at her side "Are you okay?" he asked.

Flame Princess nodded and formed fireballs in her hands, ready to toast whoever had attacked them.

Another explosion detonated on the other side of the group. John was yelling to the bananaguards to get behind cover, and they humbly complied.

"It's the sound sword." Finn explained. "The other Lemongrab must still have it. And know how to use it." Flame Princess saw Finns eyes widen suddenly and he shot past her, cutting down a corrupt lemon that had approached from their rear. Flame Princess then noticed that it was not the only one. They were being surrounded.

"Damn it" John said. "He predicted our moves." John ordered the bananaguards into some formation he had hastily taught them before they left, putting them in a line guarding their rear. He then stood up himself and created an energy wall that absorbed the impact of the next sound bombardment, protecting the bananaguards from being blown apart.

Flame Princess looked around, determined to help in the fight but not wanting to set the whole area on fire. She got an idea. She starting glowing brighter and then burst into the sky, flying by Lemongrab's position atop the keep. She flew to an opposite wall, but shot an accurate beam of fire at Lemongrab as she passed, knocking the sound sword out of his hands. As she landed she could see the glare from his red eyes. She smirked back in response.

**Finn (Lemongrab Keep, Day 3)**

Finn was pushing back the lemonfuzz when he saw Flame Princess go into the sky. He watched her disable Lemongrab and began moving in her direction to back her up. John had also seen this and was moving the banana rearguard up into the keep itself as he advanced, throwing small orbs of energy that knocked more lemonfuzz unconscious. Finn ran towards Lemongrab's position atop one of the rooftops. As he ascended the staircase he felt shuddering blows above. When he reached the open he saw Lemongrab somehow wielding… green magic.. and dueling Flame Princess with it. Finn would rather roll over and die before he letting her fight alone. It was evident however, that Lemongrab was not particularly powerful, as Flame Princess was easily deflecting his attacks. Finn ran up behind him and started choking him.

"Surrender now Lemongrab!" He demanded.

"Make him do the splits!" Flame Princess Piped in.

"Well, that might be painful. It's one thing for a skeleton but I don't know how flexible Lemongrab is. That stuff can hurt your muscles and-" Finn said before Lemongrab started emitting unearthly noises. John approached the two as they held down the thrashing Lemongrab. The bananaguards were all guarding the stairwell, easily controlling the flow of lemonfuzz through the chokepoint. John bent over and picked Lemongrab up, and took a deep breath. Or what could be considered one, since he didn't actually breathe. Perhaps John just liked to feel human things again. Finn held Lemongrab's arms down as John put his hand on Lemongrab's Forehead and focused.

Lemongrab's face was rather deformed. His eyes were red, he had greenish fungal fuzz all over him, and he had various lumps and distortions in his body. However, as John focused on him, blue energy started to glow in his lemony veins, and Lemongrab began to return to normal. First the body and skin went back to its usual shape and color, but before his eyes changed back, Lemongrab turned his eyes and looked at Finn (now standing off to the side). The red dimmed, but just for a moment, for a fraction of a second, Finn thought he saw it flicker with a greenish flame that Finn had unfortunately seen before.

Lemongrab, now restored to normal, collapsed to the ground. The entire lemon-kingdom around them also began instantly reverting to normal, corruption eroding from the structures and the lemon-people regaining freedom of thought. One Lemon that had apparently been cut in half found its bottom half and plopped back onto it, instantly healing itself. "I guess we won't need to be that concerned about getting doctor help after all" Finn thought.

**Princess Bubblegum (Candy Kingdom, Day 3)**

As the group made their way back to the Candy Kingdom they passed a steady stream of Lemon people headed back to the Lemongrab's lands. The other Lemongrab seemed fully restored to his usual self, but had started making signposts with crossed out hearts and "Unacceptable!" written under them. Finn tried to reason him out of it, but gave up on it eventually

The castle itself fared well. Most of the invaders had turned around, diverted by the counterattack, leaving the defense relatively easy. Jake had heard what was going on and had come to assist, using his stretching powers to easily outrange the lemon invaders and keep them at bay.

Bubblegum had the castle staff patch up the group and she gave a special ribbon she made to each of the bananaguards that volunteered for the attack. They all gathered around and had some refreshments to relax and celebrate the victory.

"So what exactly happened when you restored Lemongrab?" PB asked, approaching John.

John looked at PB, fiddling with a glass of juice in his hand. PB was unsure if the juice actually did anything for him. It seemed that he simply vaporized and absorbed anything he ingested.

"Well, I wasn't entirely sure what to do at first, so I tried something." He began. "I imposed a thought upon him, and willed it to be true. And it became so."

"Could you explain that further?" PB asked. She was interested in how his powers worked, and the extent of them. John had been very proactive in helping the kingdom, and she was starting to see John as a great blessing to them. So long as he stayed, she figured he could only be a benefit upon her people. He had much potential. She glanced over at Finn and Flame Princess, furrowing her lip briefly before returning her attention back to John as he started to explain.

"I am currently hypothesizing that all of my abilities are manifestations of willpower. Their strength varies accordingly, although possibly with other factors. I still don't know what fuels me or keeps me running in general. At any rate, based on this principle, if I 'will' a blade of energy to manifest from my arm, it will do so." He said.

"I think there are some limitations. I cannot merely wish for something… I have already tried to do that" John continued, looking down at his feet for a moment. PB noticed and felt a bit of pity for the ... the person? … the warrior? She wasn't really sure what to call him as he had no real title or affiliation. Perhaps she could fix that, she thought, having an idea.

"…but I can alter real qualities per se. What I did to Lemongrab was will his consciousness to have more power than whatever malignant force was using him. It was quite potent, but once Lemongrab had control over his own mind, the force… the infestation.. all of it.. it just disappeared. As if it knew it were defeated here and was retreating to conserve its efforts. It puzzles me a bit to be honest, to have such an anticlimactic showdown."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out sooner or later." PB said. "So, what all else can you tell me about life before the war?"

John laughed. "It wasn't much special. Until the bit of time before the war, Life was pretty good. I was l taking a lot of courses at the Academy-"

"What Academy?" PB inquired, interested in John's past.

"Oh, I suppose I never really explained my own background. I was a cadet enrolled at the United States Military Academy, located in West Point, New York. The United States of America was one of the major countries in the world at the time."

"So you were in the pre-war military?" PB asked, eyes growing wide.

"Kind of. We were training to become officers while getting college degrees simultaneously. I never had the opportunity to actually command any troops or fight or anything of the sort, as my transition in time came well before my graduation point." John replied. He looked down, evidently still thinking about those he would not see again."

"I have a proposition I'd like to ask you." PB said suddenly, having decided to act on her idea.

"Hm? What is it?" John asked, wondering where the change in the conversation was going.

"Well. You are a brave and smart individual, and you've been nothing but helpful to my people since you've arrived here." PB said. John's cheeks reddened slightly at the complement, and he looked around awkwardly.

"The Candy Kingdom can use you. You have the skills to defend us. And… I'd like to give you the opportunity to lead that you never truly got." PB went on. John had straightened up and was looking her square in the eyes, his gaze curious and intent.

"I want to offer you a position in my hierarchy, as a, or rather, the, Knight of the Candy Kingdom." Bubblegum finished.

John took a few moments to absorb the offer, and started pacing around.

"I mean, if you don't want it, I can understand. It's a lot to ask of someone, to take on respons-"

"I don't mind that. It's not like I have an existing obligations. But… I kind of thought that… well..." John interjected. He lowered his voice. "I thought that Finn was your Knight. Well, not your knight, you know what I mean, but that he was really the Knight that protected the people. All of the people."

PB glanced over at Finn and Flame Princess, both laughing at some joke Jake had just told them, and sighed. "He has been, and always will be a hero. But he has ties now, and… I want something or someone that, well, I can depend on for my Kingdom. I want to ensure our security. And while Finn has always been a sweet and brave boy, he is a bit too… whimsical. He does as he chooses… and he has some obligations now."

"I understand." John said. He mulled over the topic and walked around for a few paces. PB clenched her hands, wondering if he would accept. It was such a large question she was imposing on him, after all. He had no real reason to stay with her. Or her kingdom rather.

John did an about-face and bowed forward, taking a knee. "Your majesty, I have decided to humbly accept your proposition of knighthood."

Princess Bubblegum smiled. "Then I hereby appoint you, Sir John, Knight of the Candy Kingdom, and commander of its forces."


	5. Chapter 5

**John (Candy Kingdom, Several days later)**

John walked down the stairwell to the lower levels of the castle, marveling at the rapid turn of events that had put him where he was now. He had been here only a brief while, and already he was in a solid position, respected by most residents for his efforts. John knew it would take some time to earn everyone's trust, but he was working on it.

Nothing much had happened since the Lemongrab incident. John took command of the Bananaguard forces of the Candy Kingdom, and found them completely inadequate in their entirety. What they may have had in loyalty they completely lacked in strength, durability, discipline, training, and overall efficacy. John reorganized them into proper company elements, and established drill regiments to work on a gradual improvement. He also hashed out a slight pay increase from PB in order to compensate.

"If you want to protect your kingdom, you need an actual professional military, not a bunch of mall cops." He had said. She had not known what a mall cop was, but a brief explanation clarified, and ultimately John's revisions were approved. John was still trying to sketch out how he might improve the guardsmen's equipment, which was shoddy at best. At least some decent body armor could be procured, he figured. Come on, a banana shape was probably easier to make a plate-body and chainmail for than the complicated curves of the human body. And weaponry… don't even get him started on that. It wouldn't be possible at the moment to get them quite to 21st century standards, but he'd make some gradual improvements if he could find any sort of real industrial base from which to get supplies. Maybe if the goblins got over the whole graveyard thing…

John had sent out scouts looking for traces of Ricardio, his number one enemy at the moment, but nothing could be found of him. For the time being, he seemed to have vanished into thin air. In the meantime, John thought enough time had passed to pursue another lead. He entered the ward area near the dungeon, and told the guards standing watch to let him in alone with the inhabitant.

He stepped into the padded room and looked across the table at the Toter.

"So, we meet again, void child." The voice said, entering his mind once more. It felt a little more curious than before this time.

"Are you composed enough to talk again?" John asked the Toter.

"Yes." The Toter said. His physical body was not going crazy (well, it was twitching a little), so John figured it was true enough. He wasn't even babbling too often; only one quip about how roads would grow alive out of the ground and bake pizzas for forest animals to have already eaten the day prior.

"So," John began.

"Congratulations. The Toter interjected

"For what?"

"You actually followed what I said and acquired a nifty promotion."

John stared at the Toter briefly. At the moment the Toter obviously had more potent mental-psionic capabilities than he if the Toter had functional, accurate telepathy.

"Well, yes I did, but I wanted to ask-"

"What you should do next?

"No actually I wanted some backgr-

"Prepare. But you are doing so already. Make friends. Eliminate threats." The Toter began instructing.

John got slightly angry. "Hey! Listen up. I understand taking orders just fine, but I want to know the reasoning behind them, right now. Not that what you say isn't sensible, or even an obvious course of action, but for why should I follow what you say?" John queried.

"It is difficult for me to explain such things."

"Hey, I've got all the time in the world pal."

"NO. You don't have much time at all." The Toter declared suddenly, shifting the tone. He went on, "I am, unfortunately, not an independent thought. Much of my guidance comes as what I gather and am allowed to say or struggle to say. I am a log in a river with two currents. One tries to push me one direction. The other tries to push me in another. Despite the fact that I may like one directional current more than the other, my essence of will is too fragmented to be a deciding factor. I am unfortunately, being manipulated. This is why I only speak when I can control the flow, otherwise my.. other benefactor…"

The voice in John's head faltered, and became shaky, laced with sudden doubt. John now realized that perhaps he should not take everything the Toter said as guaranteed to be valid. Ironic, since everyone would have already thought that of him in the physical world. The Toter regained his focus.

John decided to question first. "Can you at least tell me who is messing with your brain?"

"The darker of the two conceals the identity of both. I am being psionically lashed just for delving that far." The voice said. John could feel the Toter's mental projection cringing, as if suffering invisible blows. He realized he was asking too much, and that he should put the ball back in the Toter's court to move forward.

"Alright. What would you have me do?" John asked.

"Grow stronger. Improve. Learn your power and use it to solidify relationships."

"What of the enemy, Ricardio?"

John felt something slip. It was like stress building up had pushed past the critical point and destabilized, trying to find a new area of friction upon which to settle, flopping back and forth in the meanwhile.

"Riiiiiiicaarrr-dio, summoned one, agent of will. Tempted, lured, bought, reasoned, justified, glorious. Overturner of mine enemies! He is not a worry. No! He is of great concern! The likes of which will never come. Bah! He is Useless! But he will always be the key to your end! He crawls, he lies, he shifts, the skies. In and out in and out in and out the void. The void calls. The void consumes." The Toter said, thrashing maniacally and letting out bouts of insane laughter in-between.

John straightened up and unfolded his hand into its crystalline form. Out of it he projected an energy field around the Tart Toter. Within that field he imposed a thought: Let nothing enter. The Toter stopped thrashing. He looked around blankly, as if confused. While he was having recovering, the barrier John had created underwent a sudden barrage of force more violent than anything John had ever felt. He tried to keep it up a while longer, but field began disrupting and fragmenting under the onslaught. He could feel that one force was an essence of pure darkness, and that the other was an essence of pure light.

The shield broke, and the Toter resumed his usual rigmarole. John felt the voice resume in his head.

"Thank you. Whatever you just did, it isolated me from my own body, due to my transdimensional existence. However, it also isolated me from the struggle and let me recollect myself."

John bent over, as if catching his breath. That brief encounter had taken a lot of energy out of him.

"I cannot help you much right now, void child, but as for the heart-shaped one, do not pursue him. He will come to you eventually." The Toter concluded, taking a few steps back into his chamber, and leaving John's mind.

John went to his newly assembled "headquarters" room, hastily assembled from one of the Castle's various dining halls. There were still a lot of records he wanted to set up, and logistics that he wanted to improve. Everything here operated on a preindustrial level, despite the fact that the princess herself had access to all sorts of advanced technology. The people couldn't envy what they didn't understand, John supposed.

He sat down, read over a bananaguard's report on the failing hunt for Ricardio, and suddenly became frustrated. Why had he taken this job? Because he was following the advice of some madman? He should be trying to find a way back! A way… to Her again. Yet John knew there was no hope of going back, no hope of seeing his beloved. Time travel forward was practical, but time travel backwards would have all sorts of horrible and paradoxical implications. If this really was the future, he thought, looking around with a sigh, the best thing he could do would be to try to use himself to improve the lives of others.

John continued to sit for awhile, wishing it was all a dream, that he would wake up and the war would have never happened, that he could see his family and his friends, most of all his girlfriend again. This pattern of thought was interrupted when he heard voices down the hall entering the castle. Finn and Flame Princess.

John levitated down the hallway, so as to not make any sound, watching the two walk around together. Finn and Flame Princess were happily chatting about something or other. Oh, Finn had an obligation all right, but he seemed to be around often enough. John was starting to question Princess Bubblegum's motives.

Finn said something that made Flame Princess laugh in delight, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek for it. Finn winced, but smiled before Flame Princess saw. John felt a sadness in his heart. These two had a great relationship, but were unable to express it fully. Then a sudden, shocking realization hit John. He landed on the ground and ran towards the two, who noticed him approaching them and were confused.

**Finn (Candy Kingdom, That afternoon)**

Finn saw John walking towards them very quickly as he separated into his Crystalline form.

"Uh, what's up John? Finn asked cautiously. Flame princess, rather than inching closer to Finn, simply stood her ground and looked at John curiously.

"I heard you two coming and had an idea. You will have to trust me on it though." John said.

Finn stared at John, waiting and wondering what was going on. John took a stance and put his hand out in front of him, the parts spreading out and beginning to glow. John focused and a aura permeated the area around Finn and Flame Princess. John's eyes of fiery energy opened and he looked at Flame Princess.

"Take off your tinfoil gloves" he told her.

"But then I can't hold Finn's hand!" She said, frowning, but compliant, taking off the gloves and tossing them on the floor." Finn had no idea what was going on, or why John was ordering around Flame Princess.

"Now, kiss each other."

"Whoah whoah whoah, I mean, not that I don't want to and stuff, its mathematical, but bad things start happening to Flame Princess when we do that."

Flame Princess looked down at the ground. "I could destroy the world." She lamented.

John spoke up. "Look, if what I am trying doesn't work, I can easily shield you from oxygen for a moment to stabilize you. Just give it a chance. Alright, if you won't kiss, give each other a big, deep hug then."

Flame Princess was still eying John oddly; she didn't want to hurt her boyfriend. Finn, however, was starting to grasp what John might be getting at, and his heart started beating faster. Could it be possible?

Finn grabbed Flame Princesses hand and held it up. The aura was more invisible now, but its effect was obvious. Finn's hand was not being burned. He felt Flame Princesses hand. It was soft and warm, and he could not even feel its flaming touch. He looked at Flame Princess, who had still been glaring at John until she realized Finn was holding her hand and became alarmed. Until she looked at it.

Her eyes went back and forth between their interlocked hands and Finns eyes. They both looked back at John, who was definitely smiling. He didn't have to have a humanoid face for one to tell that. The boy and the girl looked into each other's eyes and embraced a hug, squeezing the way they had not been able to without killing one of them. Flame Princess cried a few lava tears, which John made sure to solidify before they hit the ground. Then Finn leaned in for a kiss.

**John (Candy Kingdom)**

It was almost too much, the intense burst of emotion that flared within Flame Princesses' body. John felt it trying to overpower his "spell", but he held firm in his focus. He was willing Finn's body to be protected from any damage due to increase in kinetic energy while simultaneously willing the charged particles of FP's body to remain stabilized. After the two had separated lips, John began to release the spell, and the two backed apart as Finn began to feel the heat from her body once more. He looked at John with gratitude and wonder, but also a certain sadness. John knew what he was thinking: It could only be temporary.

Flame princess gave John a hug (it did no damage to him, as he had metallic durability) and began saying "Thank you!" over and over. She went back over to Finn and hopped up and down excitedly.

John remembered something the Toter had told him.

"Whatever you command of it will manifest so long as there is a will to support it, be it your own or otherwise. Focus these thoughts using fragments of your essence." He had said.

John reached into his chest area between the two plates that composed the front of his chest, grabbing at the large crystal in the middle of his upper body. Finn and FP gasped slightly as he pressed into it and fractured off a piece, but then calmed down when the area began to slowly regenerate. John took the fragment in his hand, a fragment of his essence. It was painful to separate it, but he was still whole, and the crystal shared some of his properties. Properties of the mind. John focused on the crystal, molding it and imbuing it with thought and directive.

When he was done, John had created in his hand two small crystals, the likes of which could easily be adhered to some form of jewelry and could easily be stored somewhere otherwise.

"Hold out your arm, Finn." John instructed. Finn complied, holding out his left arm. John placed the crystal by his wrist and it formed a band, creating a small bracelet with the crystal on the outer side. The same blue aura from earlier briefly permeated Finn before becoming invisible. John did the same to Flame Princess, attaching a band to her left arm.

"These bands are devices of will. They will operate so long as you have desire for them to operate, based off of the energy of your willpower. Finn, your crystal is imbued with the directive to shield you from fire. Any raise in kinetic energy will not affect you so long as you wear this." John said. He then turned to Flame Princess.

"Your amulet cures your condition. Upon it I also focused one thought: stability. This will greatly assist you in maintaining homeostasis whenever you go through something… emotional."

John stepped back, allowing the two to try out their new devices, which appeared to work excellently. After a multitude of thank-you's, John left the two to go off and enjoy their new closeness. The look in their eyes was so pure, so thankful, so happy. It reminded John of happier times, and he felt a lump of joy where his heart would have been as he walked back to his room. He may not be able to help himself, but John felt he had a purpose now in helping others.

**? (The Void)**

He watched John from the shadows, displeased. This new being of power was undoubtedly polarizing to the moral cause, and that needed to change. Soon enough, He would turn the would-be-hero's actions against him, and bring about his downfall.


	6. Chapter 6

**Lieutenant Potassius (Distant Ruins, 3 weeks since arrival)**

Lieutenant Potassius grunted as he climbed a large hill. His troop of fellow bananaguardsmen followed behind in close suit. The unit was well-armed, being the prototype of John's designs for the upgraded Candy Army. Each bananaguard had a light metal breastplate, helmet, and chain mail, as well as elbow- and knee- guards, with cloth covering the remainder. Apart from the protection upgrades, each was also wielding an advanced crossbow designed by John himself.

John had put together the design after the first couple of "tech raids" had brought back some surviving textbooks, some covering mechanics. John had grumbled about the lack of an industrial base needed to produce any "real projectile weapons", but Potassius wasn't sure what the commander had meant by that. All he knew was that the new weapons were quite functional, and were much better than what the Princess had previously outfitted them with. The crossbow itself looked a bit complicated but made operation much quicker than a regular crossbow; it had a gravity-fed ammunition chamber on top that could hold up to 6 additional bolts. The crossbow itself used some sort of pulley system to make reloading quite easy: one merely grabbed a handle that hooked the drawstring and pulled it to the rear, automatically dropping a bolt onto the tray ready to fire. John had opened a small workshop to create bolts and parts, with Bubblegum's approval. He had powered it using some sort of prewar tech which he called a "generator" using "internal combustion". PB understood it, so Potassius didn't really care that much, except for the fuel quotas it created. The unit continued up the hill.

All had been going well lately in the Kingdom. The problem began when the latest raid team to the nearby salvage site had not returned. A scouting party had went out as well, but they had come back early, terrified by some sort of monsters. John decided to up the ante, using what had been produced so far to outfit the squad led by Potassius.

When the reached the top and prepared to descend the other side, Potassius raised one of his hands with pointer and pinky fingers extended, the symbol for a wedge formation. The bananaguards fanned out. They were getting near to their destination.

A wail came from the front-left of their position, and the bananaguards hit the ground. The extensive training program John had instituted was starting to pay off. The guards slowly moved into a line of crossbows facing the direction of the wail. Potassius mulled over what to do next.

He had been a simple bananaman in the Princess's guard before John's arrival. Potassius was different than most of the other bananamen, not willing to settle down and farm but always seeking to improve himself. When John ran what he called a "PT (physical training) test" to see how well the candy army was, Potassius was the only one to not have what John had muttered were "downright pitiful scores". Potassius also scored higher than any of his fellows on the brief "common-sense-in-fighting" test John had given them. As a result, John had promoted Potassius into being the first of several new "lieutenants" of the Candy Army, a fact of which Potassius was very proud. John had given him them a ton of instructions on moving troops, and this would be his first test.

Potassius got the attention of the 1st squad banana-sergeant and motioned for them to flank left. As the squad got into position, Potassius ordered the remaining squads to slowly push the line forward.

A "Thwang" broke the silence as a crossbow was discharged, followed by others. "Contact!" one guard managed to cry on the right side of the line. Potassius moved towards the position, having another squad come up to support and sending a messenger to 1st squad to have them reform back with the group.

The enemy, as it appeared, was undead. They were not uncommon, being fleshy humanoid ghouls in nature, but they had something else to them. A greenish aura permeated them, and they moved much faster than would normally be expected of standard ghouls. Nonetheless, the repeating crossbow fire was punching them down. Potassius drew his short sword from his side and cut down one of the ghouls that had gotten through the fire. The line had not broken yet, keeping the frenzied beings away at about a 15 meter distance for the most part. The exceptions to that rule were cut down by more bananaguards holding short swords while their fellows kept the fire up. A guard next to Potassius ran out of bolts and grabbed a small box on his back preloaded with 7 bolts. He opened the cartridge and inserted it into the open end of the crossbow ammo container, dumping the 7 bolts in. One bolt locked into the tray and the guard dropped the box, raised his crossbow, and fired, hitting a ghoul square in the chest.

The bolt penetrated solidly, ripping apart the ghoul's bone structure and making it relatively incapable of doing much damage due to the lack of upper body control. It should have died on the spot or have at least fallen, but it kept walking forward after the impact had slowed it down. Another bolt ripped into it, taking out a knee and forcing it to halt its advance.

Potassius looked up and down the line that had formed from his squads. They were holding well, having pushed back the undead to about 25 meters, and fewer were getting through. Something caught Potassius' eye, however, and he noticed more approaching from the left. "1st squad! Turn Left!" Potassius shouted, running towards the position. The squad shifted and redirected fire, catching the undead when they had expected to surprise them. However, the volume of fire was ineffective, and Potassius had to redirect 2nd squad as well, turning his unit into a V being hit on two sides. They were holding up, but the strain was showing. "How many were there?" Potassius wondered. Potassius peered through the tree line, and his stomach twisted. He spotted more of the undead coming between the two enemy flanks, headed directly for the joining point between the two parts of Potassius' element. Potassius realized this would fracture his force and cause them to be overrun. "PULL BACK!" he cried. The crossbowmen got up from their kneeling positions and started moving back behind the bananaguards who had swords drawn. They started to do a leapfrog motion, one side of the line moving back while the other provided covering fire. The volume of enemy coming at them was too much. Ghouls started meeting the line. Potassius felt a claw grasp his arm and he looked, scowling, at the ghoul that had made it to him. As Potassius prepared to shove a bolt into the beast's forehead, its' head disintegrated in a cloud of blue particles.

Potassius looked around, the pressure had come off of the guard lines, and they were pushing the undead back now. How could this be? He looked forward and soon saw why.

In front of the battle between the guards and the undead, another battle was taking place. Fireballs smashed across the field, as well as giant yellow hammers. Finn was slicing down undead left and right with his demonblood sword. John was in his plate-form, his left arm unfolded into some sort of crystal weapon apparatus while his right arm had an energy blade extending from the wrist. Jake used his stretchy powers to form a barrier, blocking undead reinforcements from the bananaguard line. Flame princess didn't seem to have a particular goal, but she was launching fireballs everywhere. Whatever worked, Potassius supposed.

**John (Distant Ruins, 3 weeks since arrival)**

The bananaguard element had done its job perfectly, luring out the undead force while still very effectively bloodying its nose. John focused his left arm, amplifying energy through the crystals. Inside the crystals, the energy caused the atoms to vibrate, which in turn moved electrons in the surrounding air back and forth, creating electromagnetic waves. The photons refracted as intense light, and magnified through the array his arm had transferred into, firing what was effectively a laser at where he pointed it. The beam scythed through the enemy mob, which was now completely disoriented and in retreat. A ghoul came up on him and tried slashing into his chest with a claw. It passed right through John's plates, and John smiled. Before the ghoul knew what had went wrong, a blade of blue energy smashed right through its head, killing it instantly.

The enemy forces were in complete disarray, and Potassius was bringing up his ranged element, lobbing crossbow fire at the fleeing enemy. Potassius met up with John.

"Sir, we met with the enemy and were effectively holding them off until you arrived." He said.

John laughed "I'm sure you were, Potassius. Look, we're going to pursue these undead and finish them off. A group this large with any form of coordination has to be bad, and it would be better if they weren't a threat to the kingdom."

Potassius nodded and went to form up his element and make sure they all had fully loaded crossbows. Finn, Jake, and Flame Princess all met up with John, and he told them the same thing.

"This is so much fun! Thanks for inviting me to help Finn!" Flame Princess said as they prepared to pursue.

John wondered a bit about her. She was chaotic and liked burning things a lot, but she only ever did it to evil things intentionally, so… she was okay, he guessed. Finn smiled and wiped some gore off his blade, also enjoying the adventure John had requested they join in on. No matter how well equipped John made his bananaguard forces, this group would always be better for dealing focused damage and turning the tide of battle.

The combined allied group followed the undead into the ruined city, positioned between two mountainous rocks. It was one of few areas with a lot of wreckage leftover from the War. John hypothesized that when the world's terrain had shifted, this city had been covered over by rock until recent stress had moved it again, opening it up to the surface world. Thus it was relatively preserved so far as the apocalypse was concerned, still having ruined buildings and dilapidated prewar tech lying around. And zombified monsters, so it seemed.

The group entered the city (more of a small town in size since most had been destroyed or cleaved off under the rock face). The undead appeared to have retreated to the far end, but John held up his hand before they entered the city. The oddly intelligent undead could be planning to ambush them, so John ordered the bananaguards to perform room clearings on structures before the main group passed them. A few crossbow "Thwangs" rang off, confirming his suspicions.

Finn led the advance, sword drawn, with FP behind him, fireball in hand. The guards had their crossbows raised as strange noises echoed off of the walls. The buildings and cliff faces were masked with shadows, concealing what may lurk within. Still they placed another foot forward. Guttural noises reached their ears, and John thought he detected a hint of crazed laughter behind it. The street was littered with carnage. Bombed-out cars, metal beams, construction material, and more were all obstacles, but still no-one expected what was at the end of the street. It was a laboratory, in decent condition for a run-down half-destroyed structure a thousand years old, especially considering the lights appeared to be on inside. Except for the blood smeared on the walls.

"There is something very, very wrong here." John said, echoing the thoughts of the group.

"Could be demons." Finn spoke up.

"Perhaps they are linked to the Nightosphere? Should we go get Marcy?" Jake suggested, pulling out a satellite phone. John was a bit confused at how that phone even operated. John supposed that satellites were not priority targets when the bombs that few were designed to eradicate life from entire continents, but he still felt it was odd that a significant portion of them were still in orbit. Then again, the massive chunk missing from the planet that the oceans had somehow not filled in was also a mystery.

The bananaguard element formed a staggered line of kneeling and standing soldiers around the entrance, crossbows aimed. Anything that came out would be sorry. John moved forward to the large doors, and pressed the button to open them. Nothing happened. John walked over and grabbed the sat phone from Jake, dialing in his HQ's number. "Fire support requested for primary assault. Set up at pre-designated location. He pulled out a map and a calculator, setting them on the ground, and did some calculations. "Fire on a 341 degree azimuth, directly down the street, at a 40 degree inclination angle."

Back in the Candy Kingdom, Lady Rainicorn set off with two large boxes sling loaded under her and several bananaguards on her back. She landed on the ground a couple hundred meters behind the guard's position, just outside the city. The bananaguards hopped off, cutting the rope, and opened the boxes, revealing two quite large ballistae. They got to work operating the devices, and set in John's angles, cranking the devices back to deliver steel-tipped bolts to the target.

They released the levers, loosing the bolts through the air at high velocity. The hardened wood, steel tipped projectiles flew through the air, going in an arc over the distance and slamming into the target area. John probably didn't need to call in the strike since he could cut the door open given a short bit of time, but he had wanted to test the new weapon system while also bringing more covering fire onto the entrance.

One bolt missed the door, embedding itself in a wall. John knew the technology had its accuracy limits. The other bolt, however, slammed into the door and ruptured it open. The entire group kept back at a safe distance, ready for creatures to lunge out. Door had crumpled open, and they could see inside.

John heard a hiss from a now non-operable pneumatic system probably meant to purge the air upon entry. Nothing came out, and no other noises were to be heard. John held up his hand and focused on it, making it glow and sending a beam of light into the dark.

Blood coated the halls of the hallway, which stretched fairly far before intersecting another hallway. The lights were off completely in the hallways for some reason, which was odd since some individual rooms were giving off light through the masked-off or boarded-off windows John realized the enemy strategy: lure them in, isolate as many individual units as possible, and kill them by attrition.

Finn started walking into the building without a care in the world. "Hold up Finn", John said.

"We're going in, but we're doing it the safe way." He continued, and brought Potassius over.

"Potassius, hold our forces out here and make sure nothing escapes. We're heading in to either flush them out or eliminate them.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Potassius asked.

"I'm sure. The guards have been shaping up well, but they are still a bit squishy, especially in confined spaces. I think it's better if they just stay out here. Call in fire support from the ballistae if you need to slow them down."

John turned back to Finn, FP, and Jake. "Alright, We're going in; just us four. I'm confident that we're strong enough to carve our way through there."

"Are we going to split up to look for the bad guys like the peeps in the holo-vids?" Finn asked.

"Naw man, this aint like a mystery vid. It's more like one of those scary vids." Jake answered.

"Jake is right, Finn. To split up would enable them to outnumber us one at a time." John said. "Well have to stick together, and fight as group."

With that John brought up his left arm, fist clenched, and focused, creating a riot shield to form out of blue energy. His right hand broke apart and reformed into an apparatus similar to his earlier laser arm. His energy-eyes burned with blue fire as he charged the weapon, making it glow. Small nicks and indentations in the hovering plates that composed his body vanished as he willed them to repair themselves.

Finn tugged on his white bear-cap, ensuring that it was snugly on his head. He wiped some gore off of his demonblood sword and steeled himself for whatever would be inside, anticipating the adventure.

Jake shook some moisture off of his fur in a relatively chill motion, and made his fists abnormally large. He also farted.

Flame Princess, happy to have some relief from the serious atmosphere due to Jake, giggled a bit, but then readied herself, thinking about how she would make sure nothing happened to Finn. She looked over at him and he smiled back at her, making her heart surge. She did not notice her crystalline wristband glow as this happened.

The group assembled at the door to head in. John turned to nod towards Potassius, and then stepped into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Tart Toter (Recesses of his own mind, Day 22)**

The Toter was having a vision; a vision of destinies.

The void was dark. There was an enormous plain, stretching from horizon to horizon, made of nothing. It was grey nothing; and it was merely the existence of this quantity of nothing that distinguished it from the rest of existence at all. However, slowly, nothing became something, and color leaked into the bleak, barren dimension.

The plain became dirt, and grass slowly grew upon it. The sky became a vibrant blue, and the despair that was before had seemingly transformed into peaceful serenity.

Not for long. In the 'middle' of the plain that went from forever to forever, a disturbance formed. A shadow was born, and it blocked the grass off from the light, causing it to shrivel in death.

In another location, another disturbance formed. This time, from it came a wind; a cold wind. The wind swept across the plain, making the grass crumple and die under the slowing frost. Both agents wreaked havoc. However, the two met each other eventually, and came to a standoff. The shadow and frost both brought their cruel touch to the meager plant life, destroying it many times faster than either had done originally. The shadow made the skies dark, and the cold wind brought down snow to keep the land in an eternal slumber.

But it would not have it. A third disturbance formed on the plane, and this time it was a disturbance of light. The shadow and cold ceased working together, instead trying to consume one another in order to be capable of besting the light. A transformation ensued.

The Tart Toter could see it all so clearly now. Why was he cursed with a shattered mind; why would he never be able to convey such foresight! All he could do was watch the onslaught to come.

The disturbances were gone, and in their place were three plate-crystal warriors (similar to John), dueling it out. The first to land a blow was made of gold-colored floating plates and red crystals. The plates were not a vibrant gold, but were lackluster and corrupt, and were also deformed and spiky. His red eyes showed hatred, but it was not a normal, destructive hatred. Rather, the being seemed to hate the existence of his foes rather than the foes themselves, and felt a need to restrict the dimension to his own specific, compulsive pattern of thought. Throughout his form coursed the cold wind, which embodied itself in him, and lent him its power. He fought with all the elements of cold at his disposal.

The second being's metallic components were entirely of black, and shadows flickered off of them. His crystals were a sickly green, and they burned with a greenish, pestilential fire. There was no definition for him other than the opposite of life. He fought stealthily, trying to wait for weakness to expose themselves within the other two beings. He lashed them with whips of shadows and beams of green death.

The last being bore gold plates, like the first, but the difference was that this gold was real gold that shone brightly even without sunshine. The rain and slush that poured from the darkened sky could not dampen the brilliant white light that diffracted from his also-white crystals. The being fought well, and the land around him seemed alive, as if cheering him on.

The three fought each other valiantly, but none seemed capable of besting the other. They continued to fight, and by all appearances would continue to do so until eternity's end.

The world would be forever locked in a struggle, until something tipped the balance.

* * *

**John (Laboratory, moments after entering lab, Day 22)**

The hallway was dank and had a rancid odor permeating throughout it. The group moved slowly, wary of any noise that might signify an attack. All the individual doors along the hallway were made out of industrial grade steel with locks that could have gone on bank vaults. They were all locked by their appearance, and therefore it was unlikely that the undead could have gotten inside in the first place. They were coming to the first intersection of hallways, already well into the building and out of sight of the entrance. John motioned to stop and began to whisper.

"We don't know when they're going to attack us, but it's obvious they are expecting us and must have a plan. They must have a leader somewhere guiding all of this to be so organized, and I suspect he'll be in the control room of this lab. Let's look for that and hunt him down." He said.

Finn, Jake, and Flame princess nodded and the group progressed forward. Finn rounded the corner first, looking down the right hallway. Jake followed, looking down the left. John came up the middle followed by Flame Princess. As soon as Flame Princess entered the intersection a liquid projectile spat out of the shadows and hit her square in the chest before anyone could react. She collapsed onto the ground, being attacked by the blob, which was somehow alive and attempting to extinguish her. Finn moved immediately to cut the thing off of her, but the wall opened up and a fist went right into his face, knocking him back. He got up, anger and emotion filling his chest, and with a loud yell he pulled out his Demonblood sword and swung it at his opponent with all of his might.

Edge met edge with a thunderous clang that echoed down the hallway. Finn opened his eyes to see his opponent. Across from him was an undead warrior (you could tell he was dead from the smell) completely dressed in some sort of demonic enchanted armor. The plating was black and had spikes coming off of it, as well as a greenish aura. What was more threatening was the fact that he wielded a sword nearly identical to Finn's, distinguishable only by the shape of the handle and a black Gem embedded near the base of the red blade. Finn had never assaulted something his blade could not cut through or otherwise best. The two were putting all of their effort into their swords, each one grinding against another, but neither was giving way; the weapons were evenly matched.

Jake first ran to assist Flame Princess, seeing her as in greater danger at the moment. He had to help his pal out; Jake knew he would want FP taken care of first. As he stretched to knock the greenish goopy living blob off of her, several harpoons shot out of the left hallway and caught him. They were also electrified. Jake was flip-flopping on the ground and being dragged back.

John stood in the midst of these events, and suddenly felt an enormous pressure. Like, a migraine, but amplified to the point where thought becomes incomprehensible, and one merely wants to sink into a sleep of oblivion that he or she could care less about returning from. His legs wobbled, and one gave out, forcing John to take a knee, hand to head. He vaguely saw another figure approach out of the wall as giant hordes of undead started pouring out of the doors that he had previously thought locked on the main hallway. It was tall, and had strangely shaped, long and thin limbs. But what was most intimidating perhaps were its crazed, glowing green eyes. The pain made John clench his eyes shut.

The voice appeared in the back of his head. Not a malignant voice, but a plea. It was the Tart Toter, likely using every ounce of mental energy he had in him to send such a focused thought stream. The message was simple, but desperate:

"Resist the influence."

John opened his eyes, his heart burning with sudden drive. The same kind of drive that so many people have felt. When you're tired as hell but there's only ten meters left to the finish of a sprint. When the ball is on the one yard line and there's nothing else to do. When people are depending on you, and the moment demands action. John knew that if he did not do something, and do it fast, He (or at least his group, he didn't really know if he could) and his friends would die here.

Energy filled his crystalline form, and the drive was so strong that it blocked out all of the strange creature's telepathic assault. In a moment the tide turned. Each of the traps had been designed to combat each one of them specifically. However, if the weaknesses the stratagems took advantage of were removed, then the traps could be overcome.

The blob on top of FP was attempting to smother her, depriving her of oxygen while also sucking heat out of her. John's focus isolated her form, blocking any outward transfer of kinetic energy for a fraction of a second. At the same time John willed the oxygen particles in the local area to all immediately rush to Flame Princess, particularly in between her and the blob. The sudden increase in fuel, accompanied by the fact that she was no longer loosing even her normal amount of heat, catapulted Flame Princess' fiery reaction. When the heat-block ticked off, the vastly increased energy equalized itself with the surroundings, instantly vaporizing the blob and pulling Flame Princess back into the Fight.

At the same time, the unknown demon knight was pressing down on Finn, or at least until Finn's sword started glowing. John willed an enchantment upon the sword: to convert emotional will into energy. Finn's rage immediately poured into the weapon, charging its particles and melting right through his opponent's blade. The demon knight looked down in surprise as the top half of his body separated from the bottom.

Jake's problem was simple enough. John manipulated the electron flow, stopping the electricity from grounding through Jake's body, and then reversing it, sending the electrons back through the wire in a closed circuit, which immediately overheated the system and blew out it's circuitry.

In those few moments each trap that had been laid for them was cast aside. John stood up and got a clear look at his enemy. He couldn't help but be surprised. The Tart Toter was right in saying he would run into Ricardio eventually.

**Ricardio (Laboratory, Day 22)**

_It had all been such a great plan._ _What had gone wrong? He did not foresee this coming. He did not tell me! He thinks I underestimated them; that I am weak! Everyone always thinks that I am weak. But I am not; I am stronger than these pitiful wretches. At least, due to Him._

**F****inn (Laboratory, Day 22)**

Finn, having defeated the demon due to his sword pulling some really mathematical junk, stepped closer into the group. He shot a worried glance at Flame Princess, but she seemed to be doing fine. He turned his attention to the large abomination leading the undead forces, only to realize it was Ricardio.

"Ricardio?" Finn muttered.

"Oh yes, It is I, Riiccaarddioo." He said.

Ricardio was not in his usual condition. He was strapped into some sort of armored machine which had robotic arms and legs, adding significantly to his size. Some of the tech on the suit was a little abnormal though, such as the device on top containing a green glowing crystal, which had tubes leading into Ricardio's head. He was definitely up to no good, Finn thought.

Ricardio's eyes glowed green for a moment, and the legion of ghouls instantly advanced. Some crawled from unseen holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Others merely ran at them down the hallway.

Finn cleaved one down with a mighty swing of his sword while Flame Princess began toasting them by rapidly chucking fireballs. Jake began punching and kicking heads clear off with his stretchy limbs. When Finn looked back however, he found that John himself was fighting Ricardio alone.

Ricardio smashed down with his robotic arm, but John rolled out of the way. He popped up off the ground and formed an energy blade, stabbing the mechanical limb. Ricardio brought up his other arm to reveal it had a weapon attached, which turned out to be a prototype magnetic accelerator.

Before the Mushroom War, various armies in the world had developed magnetic acceleration weapons. The US Navy itself had ships that, using giant electromagnets, could propel a tungsten round for miles. It resulted in a devastating kinetic impact upon reaching the target. The main issue with magnetic accelerators was that they required an enormous amount of energy to power. The nuclear reactors aboard ships enabled them to be the only sufficient platforms for such weapons to be used regularly. The device Ricardio had, however, was a similar such device, and was powered by whatever the crystal Ricardio possessed was. Because it was well powered, it had no problem delivering a tungsten round to John's face while breaking the sound barrier in the process. It shattered the crystal in John's head into fragments, and he hit the ground hard, collapsing into a pile of plates and crystals.

Finn saw John go down and leapt to his aid, stabbing his sword straight through Ricardio's suit while his back was turned. Finn heard a gasp, and saw liquid ooze out of the entry hole. The pause did not last long, as Ricardio turned around in an attempt to swat him. Finn, having pulled his sword out just in time, saw that it had gone right through him, and that Ricardio was now having trouble breathing.

"Ricardio! It doesn't have to be like this! We can help you!" Finn pleaded. Ricardio was not listening; there was someone else talking to him now.

_You have failed me, Ricardio. This time, your service to me will no longer be required. It is time for me to relinquish you for the next phase. I will take care of this problem myself._

Inside his own mind, Ricardio cried out before he closed his eyes for the last time. When they opened again, they were not his. Ricardio's eyes were a putrid green, and burned with rage. His wound had abruptly stopped bleeding, and his skin paled somewhat. There was now no telling the difference between Ricardio and the ghouls he had been leading. Finn looked at him in horror as Ricardio walked towards him with malicious intent, and he then raised his sword to block Ricardio's incoming barrage.

Ricardio attacked with reckless abandon, completely disregarding personal safety, only desiring to destroy Finn the Human. Finn fought back, slicing deep into the robotic armor and even cutting Ricardio himself, but nothing seemed to faze the heart-shaped man. The robotic parts seemed to be invincible, somehow still operating after Finn had repeatedly cut into them. Finn was about to block another blow when a blade of blue suddenly materialized right through Ricardio's chest.

John, having reformed himself from the kinetic impact, ripped up, slicing the blade all the way through Ricardio's body up until the energy blade reached the dome holding the crystal. When the crystal shattered, the lights in the hallway flickered. The undead, which had still been relentlessly assaulting Fire Princess and Jake, dropped dead on the spot. Ricardio seemed to cry out one last time from his mutilated form as a spiritual essence flowed out of him, seemingly getting absorbed into a pocket black hole where the crystal shattered. The technology that had comprised Ricardio's suit busted down and his body itself vaporized in a mist.

The four heroes looked around in shock over what had transpired. John stepped back from the suit's wreckage, not wanting to look at it anymore. Finn followed behind in close suit after wiping off his sword. When they got outside, Lieutenant Potassius asked if they should salvage the remains of the facility. Finn watched John look at the ground remorsefully and shake his head, instead telling him to seal off the facility so nobody would be able to enter it again anytime soon. Finn himself had seen a lot of things, but the grotesque death of Ricardio had been a bit much for the hero. He was having trouble wrapping his mind around what exactly had happened. Had Finn not killed Ricardio himself? Yet the little heart guy came back… and might have even bested him had John not decisively intervened. He looked over at Flame Princess, and worried. What would she do if she lost him? What would he do if he lost her?

Finn's head hurt from thinking so much. He got in one of the transportation wagons and prepared to head back to the Candy Kingdom with the others and the bananaguard contingent. They let out sighs of relief and looked forward to restful sleep.

Little did they know, a certain frosty monarch had paid a visit in their absence.

* * *

**[Author's Note: Sorry for the delay with this chapter. Had schoolwork to do, and I was recovering from Puhoy...]**


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